The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will provide just more than $10 million in funding to 82 researchers at more than 60 institutions to examine differences between male and female subjects. The grants, which the agency announced this week (September 23), will support studies in areas such as drug addiction, immunology, and cardiovascular health.
An overreliance on male subjects is deeply ingrained in biomedical research. A recent analysis of the surgical literature showed that about 80 percent of studies only included males, while a 2011 examination of animal research revealed male bias in eight of 10 biological disciplines.
Researchers often exclude female animals to avoid the experimental variability introduced by female hormone cycles, but several studies have shown that these are not an issue ...
